From drylands to lush green, birds and butterflies

Excellent Development

Excellent Development's Head of Programmes, Christine Whinney, visits a southeast Kenyan community to hear about the impacts of their sand dam; 4 years after they had completed construction. The results are incredible she says...

We were met by some of the Watuka Central community and the self-help group committee; Samuel Mativo (Chairman,) Peter Muro (Vice Chaiman), and Elizabeth Wambua (Vice Secretary). They showed us around their community, and demonstrated the clean water coming out of the handpump installed behind the dam. The community explained how they now have accessible water for 12 months of the year, and are also able to pump water throughout the year to irrigate their crops, including kale, tomatoes, and papaya and citrus trees.

After walking down the river to look at the dam they had built, we sat under some trees in the sandy river bed, as they excitedly told us more about their group and what they are able to now to do as a result of the sand dam. The group has 20 members, and was started in 2007. The main reason for starting the dam was to try to address the water challenge they were facing both for themselves, and for their livestock.

"The situation now could not be more different; water collection takes only 20 minutes a day; giving people the time to invest in their farms, including learning new techniques, and establishing a tree nursery."

Christine Whinney, Head of Programmes, Excellent Development.

Before building the dam, there were two rivers they had to walk to for water; one was one hour’s walk, and the other was 1.5 hours walk. And then when they did arrive at the river, because of the competition for water, they often had to queue for three hours. This meant it took at least five hours every day to collect water!

The situation now could not be more different; water collection takes only 20 minutes a day; giving people the time to invest in their farms, including learning new techniques, and establishing a tree nursery.

As a result of the new techniques, farmers are now planting drought-resistant crops, including pigeon peas and green grams, and using irrigation to plant fruit trees; this is both increasing income from having a surplus to sell, and not having to buy so much food - as well as improving family nutrition.

The community also explained that waterborne diseases such as typhoid and amoeba have also decreased since the sand dam was constructed.

Elizabeth talked about how eroded the river valley was before the sand dam, and that the location where we were sitting would have been a big gulley, taller than a person. As she talked about it I was struck by how green and lush the area was with birds singing and butterflies around, demonstrating the huge impact of the sand dam on the whole environment.

Latest

Excellent Development supports communities in drylands around the world to transform their own lives with sand dams and climate-smart agriculture; empowering them to achieve lifelong access to water and food.
Please donate what you can today to help the Kyekuyu self-help group in southeast Kenya and their community (whose sand dam is being built with the support of Jersey Overseas Aid), as well as other dryland farmers to transform their own lives through climate-smart agriculture.

When water supplies are low, drastic measures are often turned to in efforts to collect it. The construction of a water tank in Utini Girls Secondary School in southeast Kenya has helped to lift this burden, according to testimony from members of the school community.

Thank you to all to tuned in to our BBC Radio 4 to hear our sand dam expedition volunteer, Sarah Parker, speak about the impact of sand dams and how they're helping farmers like Josephine to transform their lives.

Related

Thank you to all to tuned in to our BBC Radio 4 to hear our sand dam expedition volunteer, Sarah Parker, speak about the impact of sand dams and how they're helping farmers like Josephine to transform their lives.

As temperatures continue to rise and the effects of climate change become ever more dramatic, what part can sand dams play in protecting the world's poorest people? Excellent's Programmes Officer, Callum Sheehan, shares his thoughts.

Becky Little and Jason Maddrell helped to build a sand dam on an Excellent expedition in 2012. They returned to lead the Excellent 2016 expedition and visited the same community four years’ on, and were astonished to see how much the area has changed.

Most read

Read about our plan to directly support other organisations to build sand dams, in turn, realising our vision to support millions of the world’s poorest people by helping them to transform their own lives through water and soil conservation in drylands.